Back to the Basics
by PersephoneQ
Summary: What would you do if you found a child on the streets? Ask Emil, Tino, Lukas, Abriam, and Berwald. They took one in. This is Matthias William's story.AU,duh.Ice/Den,Tino/Berwald again, duh ,Mattie/? ? will be determined later, but I'm free to suggestions


(A/N): I did absolutely NO research for this at all ;D YAY FOR LAZINESS! Anyway, the point of me telling you this is that it will likely be littered with mistakes, so if you could either suck it up and deal or send me a review pointing out whats wrong or what needs some clarity, it would be most appreciated C: I came up with this idea while lazing off and surfing DA and FF for new works and stuff. Oh, and because these are the Nerdy Nordics, they will be calling Matthew by his Nordic name: Mattias. Btw, I think I got these names right, but, just for clarification, these are the Nerdy Nordics names:

Finland: Tino Vainamoinen

Sweden: Berwald Oxenstierna

Norway: Lukas Bondevik (found on Himaruya's blog)

Iceland: Emil Steilsson (found on Himaruya's blog)

Denmark: Abriam Anderson (based on the name "Abel", found on Himaruya's blog)

And, of course, I'll even include Sealand (because he needs some recognition too, darn it!): Peter Kirkland

OH! I've just remembered that I've never done a disclaimer! Oops. Well, better late than never! Is Canada noticed and friends with everyone? No? Then I guess I don't own Hetalia. *shrugs shoulders* Oh well, a girl can dream...Anyway, I hope I've given enough explanation :) Enjoy the Nordic goodness *~*

P.S.: Oh, I almost forgot, pikkuinen means 'little one' in finnish and barn means 'child' in icelandic. 'Mam' and 'Popa' are my pathetic attempt at an accent. Notice how I didn't even attempt Berwald's? Thats because I didn't want to, you know, make your eyes bleed with my awful accent abuse.

* * *

><p>"So who's up for a little hockey after dinner?"<p>

I jumped at the voice, quickly hiding myself behind the large green trash bin. A rat scurried up to me and squeaked. Normally, I would have flinched away, shooing it with a wave of my hand, but I feared that would reveal me to the five towering figures who seemed to have invaded the alley I was currently in. So, I instead put a finger to my lips and silently shushed it. It seemed to nod and scurried away again. One of the towers seemed to notice the rat and looked down at where it was, causing me to flinch, thinking I've been caught.

I never really liked being among people; living in the streets and feeding off left overs thrown out by restaurants was my life, as it always had been. At least, as far as I could remember. Since _them_...

"Considering your 'dinner' largely consists of beer, beer, eating off my plate, and more beer...no."

"Aww, come on, Lukifer~ I just wanna have some fun! And I'm sure Berwald agrees, don't ya Waldo?"

The tallest of the five towers nodded reluctantly and the second smallest looked angry. I tilted my head to the side, poking it out slightly to hear better. I was fairly good at hiding from the towers so when I saw them, I like to listen to them talk. Sometimes it was funny, but sometimes it was other things. So far, I couldn't tell which this was.

"Don't call me that, Anderson, or I'll kick you in the abs."

One of the towers, apparently called Anderson, scoffed. "At least I have some! And would you rather me call you Shortie? Hmm?"

The tower stayed silent, then mumbled something. Anderson looked smug and leaned in, putting a hand to his ears, asking him to repeat his mumblings. He does so, but I still can't hear, so I take a step forward to hear better. My luck seems to have run out because my step forward is on an empty can, which slides out from under me on contact, causing me to fall face first onto the hot asphalt with a squeal. Even worse, I had been so close to the edge of the trash bin that when I fell, my face collided with it, leaving me with a cut on my cheek and a bruise on my head.

Fortunately, though I hadn't heard what the quiet tower had said, Anderson had and he laughed loudly at it at the same time as I fell, so the noise was ignored. _Un_fortunately, the tower who had noticed the rat had seen me and, with his eyebrows raised, quickly rushed over to me, kneeling in front of me and offering a hand to help me up. I looked nervously at him, unsure if it was safe to accept, but he sent me a small smile. For some reason, his smile relaxed me, as if it was saying "I know you're scared; don't be". I gave him a nervous glare, but took the hand, letting him pull me up to my feet.

"Are you okay?" he asked silently.

I looked at him, confused for a moment. No one had ever looked at me like that, like they were concerned. Like they cared. I blushed under his scrutinizing stare, nodding to his question in the affirmative.

"No you're not. You're bleeding and you're head is starting to bruise. And you're shaking."

I must have looked surprised at this, because he laughed lightly. But it was understandable that I would be shaking. It had been so long since I'd been scrutinized like that, outright judged just for being there. Though, back then, the stares had been filled with only two types of emotion: disgust or pity.

I nodded again. Suddenly, one of the other towers seemed to notice us, the others following soon after.

"Who's that, Emi? 'S cute." Anderson asked loudly, causing me to jump and cling to the bin, trying to go back into hiding, but it appeared it was much too late for that.

"Emil, you shouldn't talk to street trash like that. He'll steal you're money."

"Emil" glared at the one who said that, the one who mumbled. I was used to it though. Anderson and Mr. Mumbles crowded around me along with Emil, creating a circle of crouching towers, all asking me who I was or what I was doing here or if I was hurt anywhere else. These I was used to, but then one of them, Mr. Mumbles, asked me _that_ question.

"Where are your parents, trash?"

I froze. Thoughts and memories that had long since been boarded up in my mind now flooded through my system. I wasn't aware of the fact that I was crying now and had lashed out at Mr. Mumbles, knocking my tiny fists against his face, his legs, his chest, anywhere I could reach. Anderson made a surprised sound and grabbed my arms, holding me at bay as I broke down into sobs.

"Wait, don't hurt him, you barbarians! Gosh, have any of you ever dealt with children before?"

A forth tower entered the fray, pushing the others away. The tower picked me up, making me struggle and yelp. He held me in his arms and rocked me, even as I kicked and hit and bit. He shushed and hummed and whispered assurances. I gave up eventually, relaxing in the towers arms and gripping his shirt as I cried.

"Hush now, pikkuinen*, what's wrong? Are you hurting? Are you hungry?...Where's your mam and popa*?"

I swished my head side to side. "'m fine." I said, just wishing they would leave so I could cry alone.

A new tower, the tallest, now appeared next to the tower holding me. "Tino, he's probably just scared. After all, we are strangers." He said this with an accent, making it incredibly hard to decipher what he said.

"Tino" looked up at him with a 'no duh' expression, then smiled down at me again. "Do you wanna come home with us? We could clean you up and then take you back to your home!"

I shook my head again. "No!"

Tino looked confused, but Emil was soon at his side, putting a hand on his shoulder to stop him from asking. Tine gave Emil a questioning glance, silently asking what was going on. Emil gave him no answer, only bending down slightly to touch my face, wiping some dirt away.

"There is no 'Mam' and 'Popa'...is there? Do you have a home?"

My eyes filled with tears. I shook my head 'no', but wiggled in Tino's grip, making him let me go. I stood in front of the towers, with my arms outstretched waving around to the alley we were in. "This my home." I said, with a fond smile. It was my home. I had lived there for two years and I couldn't imagine leaving.

The towers looked at each other uncertainly. Tino and Emil looked sad, while the tallest had that ever stoic look on his face that never seemed to change, and Mr. Mumbles scoffed at me. Anderson smiled and bent down to my height.

"This isn't a real home. Real home's have people and walls."

I defended my 'home', huffing at him. "This has walls and people!"

"Really? Prove it."

I rushed over to one of the three walls of my 'home'. "This one." Then I went to the one across from that one. "And this one." And last is the one in the back. "And this one! They're walls!"

He nodded his head from side to side, seeming to think it over. "Alright, I guess that's fair. But what about people?"

I looked at him, confused. "What are those?"

"What, people?" I nodded. "Well, I'm a person. Your a person. Together, we're people."

I shook my head stubbornly. "No, you're a tower."

Now he looked confused. "How am I a tower?"

"Well, towers are tall things. And you're all tall, so you're towers."

Anderson looked amused. "Okay, so what about people like you and towers? You said your 'home' has them, so prove it."

I scoffed. "You're here. Thats..." I counted on my fingers, a talent I was proud to say I learned on my own. "Six people. You, me, Amil, Tano, Mr. Serious, and Mr. Mumbles."

He seemed to think this over for a moment, placing who was who. When he understood, he laughed loudly. "Alright, that's...that's true. But see, we're gonna leave soon. And then you're 'home' will only have one person in it. And one person and three walls doesn't make a home. So, this isn't a home."

I pouted. "Why not?"

Anderson smiled sadly, ruffling my hair. "Because, one person will get lonely. And three walls can't hold back the wind without the forth."

I watched him stand and whisper something to the other towers. They all started to exit the alley, Anderson staying behind to say to me, "If you want a real home, you'll have to follow us."

Then they we're gone. I stood there for a moment, thinking it over. I wanted to follow them, but I didn't want to leave my home. But...if it wasn't a home, then...

* * *

><p>I walked away from the mysterious child, not looking back once. I didn't need to. When I saw his eyes after Abriam announced that we were leaving, I immediately knew he would be coming. The loneliness in his eyes didn't reach the scowl on his face though, and Abriam got nervous, checking behind us every few seconds.<p>

"You know, Abe, he might be following us, but is to scared to come out because you won't stop glaring behind us like you're gonna kill him."

Abriam scoffed, his cheeks slightly tinted pink at getting caught looking _yet again_. "Like I would ever hurt 'im. Ha, that's Lukifer's jo-"

Lukas turned around and punched Abriam in the gut. Hunched over, Abriam attempted to regain his breath while Lukas rubbed his fist, soothing it after punching him so hard. "I warned you, did I not? And anyway, the boy was trash scum. Probably just another gutter child someone threw out after he was old enough to walk. Honestly, people now days are so juvenile. If you don't want your baby, get an abortion or put it in an orphanage!"

I looked at Lukas a moment before I hit him on the head. "Don't be cruel, Lukas, he's a child. A defenseless, helpless, tiny toddler." I vaguely noticed Tino behind me, nodding in agreement, though he looked worried for the child we had left behind. "We should go back..." he said, though stopped when suddenly footsteps were heard behind us and light huffing sounds.

The kid from before rounded the corner and, having not noticed us, ran straight into Abriam, who caught him and laughed.

"I knew you'd come around, kid!" No he didn't.

The boy slapped Abriam's hands away backing up to glare at him with an embarrassed blush. "Shut up. My face hurts."

Abriam laughed again. "Quite the mouth on this kid, huh Lukifer?" Lukas mumbled something about him deserving it, while Abriam bent down and turned his back to the boy, who looked completely confused. "Well hop on! What are ya waitin' for, an invitation?"

The boy blushed wildly, climbing onto Abriam's back and wrapping his arms around his neck as he stood. Abriam wobbled a little before marching ahead of the rest of us, yelling. "Hurry up slow pokes! Last one there has to give the kid a bath!" Needless to say, we quickly followed him.

All the way there, Abriam pestered the boy, asking him his name, if he knew his parents, how long he'd been a gutter punk. The boy didn't say much, instead replying with, "Dunno, what's your name?" or "How long have you been an jerk?" while pulling his hair. He eventually relaxed around us, looking at each of us secretly. Tino noticed and smiled, waving at him. This seemed to surprise him, as he jumped slightly and ducked his head into Abel's coat, trying to hide the blush forming on his cheeks from being caught staring.

"What's your name, barn*?"

The boy looked me, confused at first, then offended. "I may be dirty, but I am _not_ a barn!"

I quirked an eyebrow at this, before laughing. "I know this. 'Barn' means 'child' in Icelandic. That's where I'm from."

He blushed. "Oh. Sorry."

I smiled. "It's fine."

Suddenly Abriam interrupted. "No it's not, Emi! It's completely unacceptable! Therefore, as compensation, you have to tell us your name!"

Tino looked like he was going to protest, but I put a hand up, wondering if the boy would really do it. He ducked his head and was silent for a while before speaking in a quiet, shaky voice.

"What do you mean by 'name'?"

I frowned, slightly disappointed by this. "What are you called, kid?" Abriam said.

He seemed to think this over, before lifting his head up suddenly, smiling. "Trash. Or 'poor thing'. But I like 'Trash' better."

Tino looked like he might cry, while Berwald and Lukas seemed to let go of their icy fronts for a minute, looking saddened. I patted his back, which seemed to confuse him. Abriam had stopped for a minute, head ducked so no one could see his face. Suddenly he lifted it, looking determined.

"Well, that's not a real name, but tell you what! When we get to my house, we'll help you pick out a name! Okay?"

The boy smiled and nodded. "Hey...do you wanna race? I do that sometimes."

Abriam smirked, setting the boy on the ground. "I don't know if that would be fair, considering I'm...how old are you again, kid?"

The boy counted on his fingers until he got to five, stopping to show us his answer. Tino cooed at this, saying it was "the most adorable thing I've ever seen~", while Berwald and Abriam blushed and Lukas stayed stoic. And I...probably didn't do much. But inside, I've always thought he was adorable. Even now as he blushes and punches me in the arm for saying so.

"Well since I'm like...seventeen years older than you, don't you think I'd have the upper hand?"

The boy smirked menacingly, saying ,"If that was a challenge, I except!" before running off.

"H-Hey no fair, twerp!"

Abriam ran off ahead of us, reminding us of that the last one home would be having a rather wet evening. I chuckled, thinking to myself that the two were so alike. But I saw the darkness in that child and, oddly, found it funny. Funny that a body so small could hold so many stitches.

* * *

><p>I darted ahead of the rest, after the child that fate had deemed us worthy of. I laughed, enjoying myself (like always), and couldn't help but think that I wouldn't mind having him around. He was...like an angel. An angel of laughter and good times. But every time we brought up his name or his family, I thought to myself that this child-no, this <em>angel<em>, was different. He was two-sided. An angel of the music of happiness, but also a devil. A devil of secrets and hidden mischief. It was kind of frightening...To other people, of course! A person as vikingly epic as me would never be scared by a little toddler like him.

We were soon at the house, and the boy stopped as soon as he saw it. I stopped next to him, catching my breath, not that I needed it. He stood, mouth agape. I laughed and he glared over at me, but I didn't hold his attention for long as he turned back to stare at the house. As he observed the house, I observed him. It was so tall that he had to lean his head back to look at it, which was both funny and alarming as I thought he might fall. He adjusted the overly large goggles he wore on his head and tugged on the golden necklace he wore around his neck thoughtlessly. His clothes were old and extremely dirty. Though at one point it had been a night dress for a child, it was now brown with dirt and alley trash. It was obviously too big for him, as it dragged on the ground, causing him to trip often and have to hold it up when he ran. His hair was honey blonde and his eyes were a pretty shade of blue, almost violet but not quite. He was extremely pale, but seemed happy.

"Wow! Thats..."

"Big? Yeah, this is Waldo's house."

He gave me a befuddled look. "Then why do you all live here?"

I sighed, counting down every member of our tiny family. "Tino is dating Berwald, but really it's almost like they're married, I'm Wald's cousin, and Emi, Lukifer, and Tino are brothers. They're all still knee deep in collage, but I'm halfway through my last year and Waldo finished his degree two years ago."

The boy seemed to be even more confused. I laughed at his extremely put-out expression as he tried to sort that out. Eventually he gave up. "Nevermind. Can we go in?"

I thought about it, before shaking my head 'no'. "We should wait for the others." I broke out in a smile. "I wanna see who lost."

Berwald was first over the hill, a frantically apologizing Tino riding his back piggy-back style. Lukifer was soon after him, waving on his brother, who was walking as if he hadn't heard about the race.

"Aww, come on Emi! Put a little effort into it!" I yelled, laughing.

"I'll help you!" the boy said, running over to Emi and grabbing his hand as he dragged him to the door step. "Open it, open it!" he squealed, obviously extremely excited. Emi laughed and patted his head with one hand and dug around in his pocket with the other. "Alright, alright, just calm down, barn!"

He pouted and I laughed, ruffling his hair. As soon as the door opened, the boy darted under Emi's arm and into the house excitedly. But then he stopped, looking around.

"Wow..."

And I have to admit, I had the same reaction when I'd first seen it. If the outside of the house looked big, you hadn't seen the inside. As soon as you entered, you were automatically in front of two huge, intertwining spiral staircases, flattening out so there was two staircases leading to different wings of the left staircase led to a balcony type walkway that was right in front of three doors-most likely bedrooms. After the three rooms, it bent around and led to a new staircase down to the dining room and the kitchen, which was large and themed red, black, white, and stainless steal. The dining room was in front (the two rooms separated by one door) and was basically bare except for a large wooden oval table that we had all painted together and a large cabinet that held all the dishes.

The right staircase was similar, having three rooms and bending around a corner to a new stair case, which lead into the living room. It had a large flat-screen TV and dark blue carpet that matched the three baby blue chairs and couch. The window sill was large enough to sit on and still had a few books left on it from whoever sat there last. Probably Lukifer. Or Emi. Or both. Heaven knows they could both fit, considering they both only eat _real_ food, what, like twice a week?

"There are bathrooms in every room, so we should just go to my r-"

"No. Just...no. I don't think he'd be able to survive that. For one thing, its a tornado survivor site in there. For another, who knows what you've got in there. I wouldn't be surprised to find Hitler hiding among the ruble from your last 'inside hockey game'." Lukifer said, still the total killjoy he always was and is.

"Fine. Then we'll just go to your room, Lukie-poo~"

Lukifer huffed, hitting me upside the head as he passed. He was halfway up the stairs before he realized that no one was following him.

"Come on, trash. Maybe if we clean you up, you'll be worth calling 'child'."

He seemed to stiffen for a second before he gave Lukas a determined smile. "I'll make you like me, Mr. Mumbles, I swear it." he said as he dashed up the stairs, dragging Emil behind him.

Lukie looked confused before shrugging and continuing up.

About an hour later, we had all of his wounds healed and Emi had given the boy a bath. Waldo, Lukifer, and I were now all downstairs, sitting at the table and waiting for Tino, Emi, and the boy to come downstairs. Wald was cooking and Lukie was setting the table, filling drinks, and hitting me on the head every chance he got. He seems to enjoy doing that. I, on the other hand, was refilling my bear bottle and blowing smoke in Lukie's face, something he does not enjoy and I find funny _because_ he doesn't.

When they (finally) came down, Tino was smiling cheerfully and Emi was limping down the stairs. Probably thanks to the boy who had wrapped himself around his leg and was complaining as he was dragged down the stairs.

"Oh, come now, Matthias. It's not that bad!"

This confused me, as well as everyone else. Had they already picked a name for the lad? But my thoughts were cut short when the boy got off of Emil's leg to reveal that he was wearing a dress. The dress was white with black lace at the top, interrupted by a red bow that wrapped around the waist. Under that it was blood red velvet until it ended at his knees with white ruffles. He was still wearing those goofily too big goggles on his head and that mysterious necklace with the rectangular charm hanging down, and was tugging and adjusting them nervously, obviously not used to all the attention.

I nodded approvingly, taking another drink from my cup. "Cute. Where'd ya get it?"

Emil shrugged, picking up 'Matthias' and carrying him into the kitchen. "Dunno. It was in a box in the attic that Tino found. We tried to get him to wear some shoes too, but he said he didn't like shoes. Something about making his feet hot or something...Oh, hey, what do you think of the name Mathias? I found it in a book I read and I thought it kinda fit 'im, ya know?"

I looked the boy up and down again, making him blush and hide his face in Emi's shoulder. I chuckled and nodded. "Hmm, Mattie, huh? Nice! I like it~! Good job, Emi~"

Emi seemed to tune me out as he looked in the fridge for something to feed Mathias. "Mhmm, thanks, Abe. Matthias, what do you like to eat?"

Matthias wiggled in Emil's arms, silently asking to be put down. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he climbed unto the bottom shelf of the refrigerator and grabbed the milk, carrying it to the table. He sat it on the floor as he pulled a chair out and climbed up onto it. Then, he crossed his legs and leaned down to grab the milk jug, but, unfortunately, its weight was too much and instead of pulling it up, it pulled him down. He landed, head first, on the floor, rolling until he sat up in front of us. Matthias was silent and still for all of two seconds before he burst out in tears, holding his already wounded head.

We all jumped, and Tino, Emil, even Berwald, bent down to pick help him. I think I even saw Lukas jump and ask if he was okay. But, all this mattered not as I, the amazing Abriam Anderson, picked up the twerp-in-a-dress and cradled him in my arms, swinging him back and forth as I hummed and shushed and asking where it hurt. He blinked up at me and smiled, then reached up and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you, Anwersthon. I like you best."

* * *

><p>Okay, we're all good, honest people here, right (excluding Anderson, of course)? Then I will assume that any of you with half a brain left have realized by now that what Anderson said just now was complete backwash. Matthias has never, and will never, for that matter, like Anderson 'best'. But you knew that, right? Right. Good! Now that all that is cleared up, here is what really happened after Matthias fell:<p>

After seeing Matthias get a lesson in gravity via doing an accidental back flip out of his chair, we all got up to help. Well, Berwald and I didn't really do much, but we inquired as to his safety. And that counts for something, right? Right. What Anderson said is true, that he got to Matthias first. But, instead of holding his and rocking him and actually _helping_, he yanked Matthias up by the back of his dress (causing Matthias to let go of his probably throbbing head to pull his dress down to avoid flashing us with his "pumpkin panties", as Emil and Tino have dubbed them. Matthias, unlike the rest of us, does not find this amusing. At all.) and into his lap. He awkwardly patted him on the back, frowning when his crying didn't automatically stop.

"Hey, brat, sorry it hurts, but you've gotta admit-" he just has to pause in his speech of degrading insults to laugh in his face. "That _was_ pretty stupid. And funny, from where I've been sitting."

Matthias glared at his through his tears, then did something that I will forever love him for. He took the cigarette out of Anderson's mouth and dropped it in his beer, effectively ruining both things.

"Meanie."

Anderson, like everyone else at the moment, as shocked stiff. After all, as quoted by Anderson, "You can take my cigs, you can take my hockey stick, but if you touch my beer, theirs gonna be hell to pay!". Honestly, we were terrified that Anderson would kill him. In actuality, after about a minute and a half of silence, Anderson growled and grabbed Matthias's foot, hanging upside down as Matthias whined.

"Bad move, squirt! I'm gonna-"

"Put. Him. Down."

Suddenly, Emil was right behind Anderson, grabbing his spiked up hair and tugging until Anderson dropped the boy, which Berwald grabbed. Matthias was shaking and tearing up and clinging to Berwald like a lifeline while Tino fawned over him and I kicked Abriam 'down under'. If you know what I mean.

Emil, after pulling out a sizable clump of the idiots hair, walked over to Matthias and smiled. Smiled. Yeah, I know.

He's always liked Matthias. He was and is always the favorite. If you touch Matthias, you can guarantee Emil will tear down Hell and Earth to find you, rip your arm off, then beat you with it until you die of a hemorrhage. Just a warning.

Emil pulled Matthias into his arms and rocked him back and forth. "Hush, barn. I will make you some milk, if that's what you want."

Matthias looked up at him and smiled. "Yes, pwease."

Emil smiled fondly at him and took him to the table. At first he sat Matthias in a chair alone, but Matthias couldn't reach the table, so he sat down and put Matthias in his lap.

"Tino, do we have a Sippy Cup?"

"Um...Oh, yeah! Peter gave me one of his last time he came over."

Tino ran over to one of the cupboards and pulled out a small green cup, tossing it to Emil who caught it and filled it quickly, putting it into the overeager hands of the toddler in his lap.

"Thanks Amil."

Emil frowned. "Um, its _Emil_. Not _'Amil'_."

Matthias frowned as he struggled with the name. "A..Em..Emmi...Emmy!"

Emil, stubborn as he is, frowned and tried again. "Emil!"

Matthias smiled and shook his head 'no'. "Emmy!"

Emil brought a fist up to Matthias's head and lightly twisted it from side to side, giving him a noogie. "Emil!"

Matthias giggled and pushed Emil's fist away. "Emmy!"

"Em-"

"Just give up, Emi, its not gonna change. That kids as stubborn as you are!"

Berwald reluctantly grunted in agreement with Anderson. Emil stuck out his tongue at the two, muttering a small, "haters", which made Tino laugh and I smirked. Because its true. He's as stubborn as a rock.

Suddenly, the oven beeped, interrupting the comfortable silence with the promise of food. Tino jumped and ran to the oven with Berwald close behind. Anderson scoffed and got out another cigarette.

"What, too cool for food?", I said, smirk still in place.

"No, just too cool for you.", Anderson said, blowing smoke in my face for what had to be the eighteenth time that evening. Before I got the chance to deck him in the face, Matthias sent a confused look Abriam's way.

"Anwersthon, whats that?"

Anderson smirked and blew a ring of smoke directly into Matthias's face. "Name's Abriam, brat. And it's a cigarette. Want one?"

Emil, enraged that Anderson would even _suggest_ giving a child drugs of any kind, grabbed the cigarette out of his mouth and threw it in the trash can behind him.

"E-Emil! Not! Cool!"

"Don't care." Then Emil covered Matthias's ears and got right in Anderson's face. He glared and hissed, "If you dare smoke or drink around Mathias again, I will beat you up so bad, the hospitals will consider you a lost cause."

Anderson scoffed lightly, but refused to look in Emil's eyes. "Heh, you don't scare me, Emi."

"I will peel your skin from your bones with a dagger, starting with the eyes, so you have to watch it. Then, I'll pour salt all over you and leave you in the forest so the animals can finish you off. You won't be able to scream, because I'll rip your vocal cords out."

Yeah, if you thought that was harsh, you should have seen how he reacted when Matthias brought home his boyfriend. The poor boy had to go to therapy.

Anderson, pale and shaking, grabbed his beer, walked to the sink, and poured it all down the drain, then turned to Emil. "Deal. Just...just don't hurt me!"

Emil nodded and let go of Matthias, who looked up at him, confused. Before he could ask, Tino came back with food and we all sat down to eat together for the first time since we made the table. And I have to say, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

"So Tino, are you gonna go babysit that twerp of a brother that Artur has? Or are you free from jail duty this week?", I asked.

Tino gasped at me, clearly offended on the brats behalf. He's always been such a drama queen. Yes, you have, Tino. Just deal with it. "Lukas! That is extremely rude!" Tino smiled then, looking up at Berwald. "But no, I have the week off because Arthur has finals and can't go drinking. I was thinking of going skiing with Berwald."

I 'hmm' and nod, not really caring much, but feeling the need to say something anyway. "Is Anderson going to go with you?"

Berwald grunted, smiling slightly. To most people, this would look kind of scary, but we had gotten used to it. Matthias giggled and took a piece of Swedish Kallada from Emil's plate and shoved it in his mouth. He made a face, took it out of his mouth, and put it back on Emil's plate. I, having seen this, was disgusted and was about to reprimand him for such, when Emil laughed, getting up and raking the food into the trash. He turned to Matthias (who looked like a three year old in the chair, so small was he), and smiled.

"Well, if you don't like this food, we'll just have to find something you do like!"

Matthias laughed and clapped, reaching up with his arms so Emil could pick him up and carry him to the kitchen.

When they were out of the room, Anderson turned to the rest of us and, for probably the first time in his life, he looked serious.

"So, what are we gonna do about Matthias? We all know that we're all too young and inexperienced to care for him. Should we take him back or maybe send him to an orphanage...? What?", he said, seeming to have finally realized that everyone in the room was glaring at him (except for Matthias and Emil, of course).

"**Abriam Magnas Anderson**! How _dare_ you say that! To even _suggest_ leaving a poor, defenseless child in an alley...You're insufferable! Of course we will care for him! And don't say we couldn't, because Berwald and I have been babysitting Peter, since we were children ourselves!"

Berwald put a comforting hand on Tino's shoulder and Tino relaxed in his chair, huffing and glaring at Anderson, who raised his eyebrows at the rare show of anger from his friend. I sighed.

"I hate to say this, but Anderson's right. We can't keep the kid. For one thing, he's not ours to keep. And also, what will people think?", I said calmly.

"**_Who cares what people think?_**", Tino whisper yelled.

I frowned and opened my mouth to argue, but Tino let out a frustrated sigh and held up a hand, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Look, just...A week. That's all I ask. Give it a week. If we don't find a good orphanage in a week, then we get to keep him. Deal?"

"Christ Tino, he's not a freakin' puppy that you can just pick up off the street and immediately own! We-"

I put a hand over his mouth and gave Tino a stern look. "Are you sure you-we-can handle this?"

Tino nodded with a determined look on his face. I sighed and let go of Anderson's mouth (later, I washed my hands in peroxide to get the spit off). "Fine."

Anderson groaned and sighed in an "I give up" manner, got up, and headed into the kitchen, probably looking for his (precious) beer. Having found it, he stuffed it in his jacket pocket and grabbed a bag of chips off the top of the fridge as a cover, then headed into the living room with his beer. I sighed and followed him, Tino and Berwald close behind.

Anderson turned on the tv, then sat his loot on the coffee table and situated himself to where he was upside down on the couch, downing beer through a long crazy-straw and munching on chips. Emil and Matthias came in shortly after, Matthias with a plate of pancakes and a sippy cup full of hot chocolate and Emil with an armful of Matthias and a whole crate of...beer?

Anderson abruptly sat up slightly and looked at him. Emil smirked and said, "What, you didn't think I'd let all this go to waste, now did you?"

"B-but, I thought you said-"

"Have you never heard the rule, 'do as I say, not as I do'? And besides, you should just be thankful that I let you keep that one."

Anderson laid back down and grumbled into his crazy straw, shoving another handful of chips into his mouth. Matthias scrambled out of Emil's lap and over to Anderson, mimicking his upside down method of sitting. He giggled and grabbed his sippy cup, putting it to lips only to have it spill all over his face. It was silent for a second before Matthias and Anderson broke out laughing. I sighed and sat my book down, going into the kitchen to get towels. When I got back, I saw something that I never would have expected.

Anderson being usefull.

Some of you () might think that that is rude and insensitive of me, but its true. He was actually sitting up like a normal person for once and was wiping the milk off Matthias's face with his shirt. I shrugged and put them back, and for the rest of the evening, we watched shows and talked. Like a family.

I can honestly say it was the happiest I'd felt in years.

* * *

><p>It was about 12:30 when Matthias finally passed out. In that time, he had consumed about three bags of chips (halfed and shared with Abriam, of course, the sweet boy~), five flapjacks, and a whole half gallon of milk. Honestly, its the most I've seen a child eat since Peter's first Halloween.<p>

Oddly enough, it wasn't Abriam or Emil he cuddled up to in his sleep. It was Lukas. Of course, they were both asleep at the time, but I have to say that it was -and is still- the second cutest thing I've ever seen. First would be Berwald's baby pictures. Anyway, Abriam and Berwald carried Lukas to his room (really, it was Abriam doing all the carrying, Berwald was just there to make sure he didn't drop him off the side of the stairs or anything. He's done it before.), which was nice and all, but I can't say I approve of him throwing Lukas on his bead, causing him to wake up and throw a shoe at him as a reflex.

Now, I'm not normally a nosy person, but when I saw Abriam head into Emil's room, I got kind of curious. See, I've always had an eye for romance and am normally a very observant person, but for the past month or so, I've noticed how Abriam seems to...cool it down a bit when Emil's watching, so to speak. And when anyone mentions Abriam to Emil, he smiles and plays with his hair unconsciously. Anyway, I followed them up second set of stairs and into Abriam's room, sleeping Matthias in hand. I stood outside the door and saw Emil tuck Matthias into Abriam's bed, then stand back and smile.

It was silent for a bit before, without looking at him, Emil said, "Thank you."

"Hmm? For what, Emi?"

Emil looked up at him and smiled. "For letting us keep Matthias; if at least for the week."

"Oh, that! Haha, I thought you hadn't heard.", Abriam laughed and scratched his head.

"The walls have ears, Abe, remember that. Anyway, I just...wanted to thank you for not backing away from this. It means a lot to me."

Abriam smiled and nodded and-was that a blush on his cheeks? Emil leaned up and kissed him on the cheek before rushing out of the room, not even seeing me in his rush. When he passed, I saw a prominent blush, but a frown. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!", he whisper-yelled at himself all the way to his room, where I heard the door slam.

I looked back and the room and, there was Abriam, for once speachless. His mouth was agape and his hand was on his cheek, a flush showing on his cheeks as well. Slowly, a smile made its way onto his face and then he punched the air with a fist, smiling.

"YES!", he whisper-yelled, but quickly covered his mouth and walked out of the room, stopping when he saw me. Drat. I was caught.

"Hey Tino, you didn't..."

"Oh, no, not...what? I was just on my way to my room..."

Abriam smirked. "You mean Berwalds room."

I blushed. The perv.

"No, I mean my room. Well, good night, Abriam."

He laughed and nodded, then went to his room. When his door was closed, I went to my room and, as I laid in bed, I couldn't help but think that this was the start of a new beginning for all of us.


End file.
